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Sport in India includes cricket, chess, badminton, field hockey, tennis, association football and golf. Field Hockey is the official national sport in India, and the country has an impressive eight Olympic gold medals in field hockey, though cricket is the most popular sport in India. Other popular sports include football, tennis, volleyball, and badminton. After the 1982 Asian Games hosted in New Delhi, the capital city now has modern sports facilities, and similar facilities are also being developed in other parts of the country. Besides sports and games included in the international sporting agenda, there are many which have developed indigenously. Throughout the country a wide variety of sports are played. India is home to several traditional sports which originated in the country and continue to remain fairly popular. These include kabbadi, kho kho, pehlwani and gilli-danda. The British rule brought many popular sports in India including football, rugby union, cricket, golf, tennis, squash, hockey, boxing, snooker and billiards. India has hosted or co-hosted several international sporting events, such as the 1951 Asian Games and the 1982 Asian Games, the 1987 Cricket World Cup and 1996 Cricket World Cup, the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, the 2010 Hockey World Cup, the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and the 2011 Cricket World Cup. Major international sporting events annually held in India include the Chennai Open, Mumbai Marathon, Delhi Half Marathon and the Indian Masters. India is also scheduled to host the first Indian Grand Prix in 2011. India is also home to cricket’s Indian Premier League, launched in 2008, and scheduled to begin its fourth season in 2011. 
Cricket is the most popular sport in India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia : Field Sports team (not soccer) |
